Lecture 2 of the Youth Occult Class Given by the Master Beinsa Douno
March 1, 1922 – Wednesday, 19.00 local time , 21.00 GMT, Sofia

You all should know one thing: each work should be incepted with the least possible barriers. I will write the following few numbers: sum them up and draw a conclusion from their total. It is better to reflect on these numbers in solitude.

I am now writing the sentence ‘Fir-f?r-fen tao bi aumen.’

It means: ‘With the least fear and the least darkness.’ So, you have to follow the Divine Path with the least fear and the least darkness. Why? The smallest fear and the smallest darkness cause the least harm and the least deviation. Those who are too fearful cannot follow this Path. Therefore, one shall attain the art of maintaining only the least fear and the least darkness in his consciousness in order to enter this Path. The sentence “Fir-f?r-fen tao bi aumen” can be also translated: “Without fear and without darkness!” Fear comes from human sin and at the same time it produces darkness. But do not confuse fear with caution. Whoever acknowledges the existence of the Primal Cause in the world, but nevertheless is fearful, has not understood the essence of this Cause.

So, you should follow the New Path as disciples - without fear and without darkness. Whoever is fearful will lose his Light and the darkness will come as a natural result of this. And the opposite is also true – when the darkness comes, fear will follow it. Fear and darkness are two senses in the human consciousness, which should be regulated by all means. By what tools? By fearlessness and Light. Otherwise, on entering into the School, a disciple will continuously ask oneself questions of the sort of: ‘Can I manage with my studies in the School, shall I succeed? Is it time to follow this Teaching? Do I possess the skills required? What if I fail some time, if I go back?’

No, the question that the disciple should ask oneself is another one: ‘Do I want to study or not?’ If the answer is positive, this very aspiration will be powerful enough, so that one can overcome all the difficulties in Life. But if you are fearful, you will experience the verse from the Scriptures, ‘Those who are fearful will not enter the Kingdom of God.’

It is true that a fearful person cannot become a scientist, a philosopher or a statesman. Actually, a fearful person cannot succeed in any field, because this one is like a hare. But there are even more cowardly animals than hares. For example, frogs are more cowardly than hares; they may be taken as an emblem of extreme materialism. Materialists are full of fears. If a rich man, who is also a great materialist, is deprived of his money, he will immediately lose his courage. As long as this man is rich, he is like a hare, but when he is robbed, he is like a frog. So, thinking of a hare, you will visualize a rich materialist, who is not completely robbed, so he is running away in order to save some of his riches. And a frog is an emblem of someone who is completely robbed and there is no other way for him except to jump into the water and find its salvation there.

I take now three animals that symbolize fear: a hare, a frog and a bird. If you scare a hare, it will run away into the forest; if you scare a frog, it will jump down into the water; and if you scare a bird, it will fly up in the sky. Finally, if you scare a person, he has to say to himself, ‘Without fear and without darkness!’ Write down these words clearly, neatly, without making any comments about them.

I ask you about your goal when you go to an excursion. Your goal is to climb up a high mountain peak. During the climb, you take rests from time to time, so that you can reach the peak. You should use the same method in your spiritual studies: aiming at the high peak, you will take rests to refresh yourselves at many places in order to restore your forces. Many people say that esotericism is dangerous. The spiritual science is really dangerous, but for those who are fearful. And it is safe for those who are fearless. When it is said that the spiritual science is dangerous, this indicates that some fearful persons are submitted to an exam and it will become evident if they pass it or not. When fearful persons are instructed to go into the Path without darkness, they ask, “How can we go without darkness, when Light is not enough for us?” It is an indication that they are even afraid of Light. A robber, for example, works in the darkness to rob a cash-box; if Light comes from somewhere, he will immediately receive a heart-beat from it.

Therefore, two testing methods exist for the disciples of the two schools – the School of Light and that of the darkness. The disciples of the first school go without fear and without darkness, while the disciples of the second school - with fear and with darkness. So, the disciples of the Brotherhood of Light will follow the path without fear and without darkness, while the disciples of the opposite brotherhood will proceed with fear and with darkness.

Young people should know which path to follow. If you go on a long journey, you may send someone before you to see the conditions of the road: if it is cleaned; if there are bridges; how you should travel: on foot or by horse, etc. And when you have preliminary information, you will be fearless. You have taken this Path many times and then you turned back, but this time, when you take the Path, you should stay with it. We see a similar situation in ordinary schools: many students join them, but some of them after finishing the first class leave school, others complete only the second or the third class, etc. Few of them graduate from all the classes. And the best students continue at some university. But in life just the opposite may happen: students who are good at school may lag behind in Life, or students who are very good, even excellent in the first classes may become less successful in the next classes. On the other hand, students who are weak in the beginning may improve their results in the next classes and finish school with excellent marks. It is due to a specific psychological reason: when parents and teachers who praise their children often and too much, make them conceited. As a result of this, the centre of vainglory develops in their brains, attracting more blood to the back part of the head, so the front part of the brain receives less blood and it is gradually weakened. If people praise you too much, they will unconsciously stop your mental development. This is why teachers should restrain from praising their talented students. The centre of vainglory, located in the back part of the head, is like a well that takes a great amount of blood, otherwise going to the front part of the brain. That is why the brain of vainglorious persons cannot develop very well. The same phenomena is referred to in the Bible in the following verse, “God mocks proud mockers, but gives grace to the humble.”/Proverbs 3:34/

Therefore, those who want to process and improve their brain should not be conceited. It is noticed that those who were often mocked and laughed at, then became famous scientists, poets, musicians, and those who were praised too much and involved great expectations became mediocre. Why? Their brain was not nourished well and in consequence it could not develop properly. So, be deaf to both praises and scores while you are alive. When you die, then you may listen to what people say about you in the graveyards. Someone may ask you, for example, “Are you a disciple of the Spiritual School? Do you know that nothing will come out of you?” Do not pay attention to such words. Another one may tell you, “You are an excellent disciple, there is no one like you.” Do not consider such words either. Go on working and developing, notwithstanding what you are told.

Apply this method to see what results it will bring to you. Apply this method, but not out of fear. Many persons are brave in Life under the influence of their fears. This is not courage. One has to be brave, but consciously, not out of fear. Even a cat, when scared, huddles first, but then it becomes brave due to its instinct of self-preservation, so that it gets ready to attack its enemy. This is not fearlessness, but bravery out of fear for losing life. True courage means fearlessness in all situations in Life, at any given moment. Said in spiritual terms, brave persons hesitate outside, but not within themselves.

Only Divine Love, being perfect, can inspire courage. No other love is able to make someone behave bravely and fearlessly. You cannot know Love in the physical world until you have become fearless. If your heart is full of fear, whatever you say about love, it is not Divine Love. When you get scared, your heart will quiver in a specific way. The energies of fear cause peculiar psychological effects: a specific quiver of the heart and a simultaneous paling of the face. When frightened, first you get pale due to the withdrawal of your blood to the heart; then you get reddish due to the appearance of anger in you and stirring of your blood. Cowardly people are actually afraid of the public opinion, so they get insulted easily; when they are discredited before people, they get angry and they become cross. For example, an adept of the other Lodge may come to tempt you and to cheat you. You will succumb to his words, trust him and commit a crime. Then he will come again as your benefactor offering you a method to hide your crime. But thus it comes falsehood (unclear!), which is even more terrible. I say, brave and fearless persons will never succumb to temptations. Disciples should know this, because they will encounter many temptations, when they enter the School.

I mentioned the hare and the frog in this lecture as symbols. So I wish to direct you, as disciples, to reflect on all phenomena in Life and Nature, on all objects, and to make translations. What will be your translation, for example, of the following words: a river, a tree and a mountain? What translation will you give for these animals: a wolf, a fox and a frog? What do flies and mosquitoes symbolize? All these things are symbols that compose the language of Nature.

A disciple should study this language and know why Nature has created animals, plants and minerals. Nature has used them as letters in its alphabet in the same way as we use letters and syllables to form our thoughts. Therefore, if we put all minerals, plants and animals on their places, we will get the intelligent Word and Thought of the Living Nature. Those who want to study the language of Nature should begin with the simplest images and gradually proceed to more complex ones.